It has been another incredibly busy 12 months across the region, headlined by Australia and Thailand contesting the final round of Asian Football Confederation qualifying for the looming FIFA World Cup.

TAKE A LOOK BACK

The Socceroos are within reach of another World Cup berth, but Thailand have fallen short in their bid to reach Russia 2018.

The War Elephants, however, secured a second straight AFF Suzuki Cup title in December, while Vietnam continued their solid progress at all levels of the game, which has been reflected in this year's list.

Of course there were also a number of standout performances at club level and this year's Top 15 demonstrates both those managers who are well established and keep adding to their legacies, as well as some up-and-coming coaches certain to climb this list in the years to come.

This year we also have a range of additional features for you, including some exclusive interviews, a close look at the issues coaches can face working in such a fickle working environment, plus we gaze into the FourFourTwo crystal ball for a list of names we think could make it in 2018. So read on and enjoy!

15. Widodo Putro (Bali United)

Famed for scoring one of the best goals in Indonesian football history at the 1996 Asian Cup, the coaching career of Widodo Putro has been a fairly nomadic one up to this point.

But that could all be about to change soon as he’s had a dramatic impact on one of the former strugglers in the nation’s latest attempt at a unified, professional league.

Having bounced about various club sides and numerous age level teams in the national set-up, the former forward was appointed head coach at Bali United back in May after the club had made a modest start to the season.

It seems the soothing surrounds of the island retreat have worked well for both parties as the players claim he has had a profound impact on the team and the results certainly bear that out.

Nine wins in the 14 matches he’s had in charge have seen Bali shoot all the way up to second in the standings and they’re poised to make a massive run at being the inaugural champions.

Whilst there’s no question the club has one of the better squads in the division, neither can there be any doubt about the impact Widodo has been able to extract from them, one his predecessor simply couldn’t.